


6 feet apart never felt so close

by SapphicScholar



Series: Love in the Time of COVID-19 [3]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Pre-Canon, Sexting, Smut, dating app au, low key coming out arc, porn with a surprising amount of plot, you know it's another quarantine fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-29
Updated: 2020-03-29
Packaged: 2021-03-01 03:20:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23378284
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SapphicScholar/pseuds/SapphicScholar
Summary: Quarantined grad student Alex meets Officer Sawyer on a dating app that Kara insisted she use for human interaction during social distancing. Alex assumed she'd open it once and never look at it again. She didn't anticipate a certain dimpled officer's "hi" message would change that so thoroughly.(Totally unrelated to the other one-shots in the series except for the whole covid-19 pandemic background; can/should be read as a standalone fic)
Relationships: Alex Danvers/Maggie Sawyer
Series: Love in the Time of COVID-19 [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1662787
Comments: 24
Kudos: 301





	6 feet apart never felt so close

**Author's Note:**

> I'm almost done the update for my Sanvers WIP, I swear, but this idea wouldn't leave me alone, so happy Sunday, have some smut (that was supposed to be way more pwp but ended up with plot and fluff and even feelings)

“Alex,” Kara sighed, pushing Alex’s phone at her again. “It’s a dating app, not poison.”

“Poison would be preferable,” Alex grumbled under her breath.

“C’mon, what’s the worst that can happen?”

“Creepy guys stalk me? I get catfished? Someone tries to kill me on our first date?”

Despite the increasingly morbid list, Kara beamed and shook her head. “Nuh-uh. Not this time. Know why?”

“Why?”

“Because you’re all under strict quarantine. So you don’t have to worry about meeting anyone yet. And,” she added, anticipating Alex’s objections, “if they try to break quarantine to meet up, you’ll know they’re selfish and not worth your time. Boom. Now you can just have fun, meet new people, maybe even end up liking one of them.”

“Yeah, because I _so_ love talking to new people for extended periods of time.”

“Please.” Kara shot Alex a pleading look. “I worry about you. Everything’s online now. You can’t go work in that coffeeshop you like. You can’t even go into your lab. It’s healthy to interact with other people.”

“Fine,” Alex relented with a huff of annoyance; she swore she should have developed some level of immunity to that look by now, but every so often it had a way of working on her. “But you don’t get to blame me when all my human interactions end up being ‘Fuck off’ messages.”

Kara rolled her eyes. “A veritable Jane Austen in the making.”

“Oh yes, because I’m sure this app is full of nice singles desperately looking for someone to write them a long letter about the health and well-being of their entire family.”

“You never know… Now I’ve really got to get back to Midvale and Eliza, but promise me you’ll try? At least talk to one person a day?”

“Fine.”

And Alex had kind of just assumed that would end up being a lie. It was what Kara wanted to hear, and Alex could make up someone each day alongside some reason that she was never, ever going to talk to them again—rude, boring, smarmy, Max Lord devotee…

But as the hours had dragged on, Alex found herself curious.

She clicked on the new app icon, carefully hidden inside her “entertainment” category. As promised (threatened?), Kara had set up Alex’s profile. There were a few a somewhat flattering photos of Alex, alongside a short text description: “25, grad student, loves motorcycles, whiskey, and my sister (not necessarily in that order).” Well, it could be worse. Nothing egregious enough for Alex to make the effort of updating it. Instead, she clicked back to the home screen.

A reasonably attractive man popped up. Mark, apparently. He was a few years older, and one of his photos featured an adorable dog cradled in muscular arms. She swiped past him. It was still early, she reasoned with herself as a voice that sounded suspiciously like Eliza’s interrupted her thoughts, reminding her that she wasn’t getting any younger and that nice boys like Mark wouldn’t wait around on the off chance that she decided she was ready one day.

The next one started his bio with “DTF.” Next.

Then there was someone looking for a third. Hard pass.

Boring bio. Nope.

Allergic to dogs. Didn’t matter that she didn’t have one now; she might someday.

Too much facial hair.

Too little facial hair.

Weak chin.

Kind of looked like a guy from high school that had been a total asshat.

Trying too hard.

Not trying at all.

Obviously immature.

Seriously? A photo of him playing video games?

Ew, definitely no need for shirtless photos. Did they think women found that amount of chest hair sexy?

Alex’s phone buzzed with a text from Kara. “See anyone you like yet??”

After a few moments, Alex sent back: “Eh. Mark was kind of cute.” Sure, he was long gone by now, but Kara didn’t have to know.

The string of smiley face emojis she received in response made guilt churn low in her gut, but she ignored it, splashing just a little more whiskey into her mug. Not like she could do much work stuck in her apartment anyway.

Maybe she needed to update her settings. Clearly the men here weren’t doing it for her. Maybe if she went a little older… Or a little further away from the college campus’s radius…

Fumbling through the menu, Alex added a few years to her max and a few miles to her distance. Curious, she scrolled down to see what else there was. Link to her social media? Absolutely fucking not. Upgrade to premium? How was there even a premium version of this?

She swiped over to her own profile, took out one of the more embarrassing photos Kara had included of Alex with a dollop of ice cream on her nose and her eyes narrowed in annoyance, replaced it with one of her dressed up with a handful of girls from her cohort—no one needed to know that it was the before photo to a seriously grimy, very hungover after. She added her height. Ignored questions she could choose to answer about her astrological signs or whatever the fuck. She paused at the question about gender preference. Kara had set it to men only. Which made sense. Obviously. But then…there had been that one night…and even if she was really drunk… Alex quickly changed her settings to include women before closing out of preferences. It was just sizing up the competition. Seeing if her profile looked normal next to theirs. Maybe she’d even like someone just to tell Kara that she had without lying.

The first few people to come up were still men. They were…fine. Adequate. She got used to the rhythm of swiping through them.

The first woman to pop up almost startled her. She was a little younger and seemed it. Alex swiped past her. And just like that the odd, unsettled feeling that had swirled up inside of her quieted. Same deal. Just swiping. Just saying no to everyone. Nothing new.

And sure, maybe she lingered on a few profiles. There was no harm in looking.

And okay, maybe after another drink, she could acknowledge that some of these women were _gorgeous_. And some of them had really nice smiles. And some of them also had really great butts. But anyone could acknowledge that. It was very obvious.

She liked a few of them. No harm, no foul. Not like any of them popped up with a match to say they’d already liked her.

A few more hearts.

And okay, two more.

Oh, and there was that barista who always accidentally gave Alex a larger size or a free pastry.

She made sure to like one of the better-looking men, too. For balance.

Before heading to bed, she managed a brief text to Kara: “Liked some people. Happy?”

\---

The next morning, Alex woke up to a long list of notifications. There were the usual emails and news updates, a handful of texts from Kara and Eliza, something about an app that needed updating. And then there were likes on the dating app. She frowned at the sight of names she didn’t recognize. Had she really gotten that drunk?

After swiping through a few of the profiles, she shot Kara a panicked text.

 **Alex:** Can people see that you liked them even if they haven’t already liked you??

 **Kara:** uhh yeah, why?

 **Alex:** WTF KARA!

 **Alex:** Why didn’t you tell me??

 **Kara:** how else would people know you were interested?

 **Alex:** once they’d already shown interest of their own! Like every other app in the world!

 **Kara:** it’s fine, Alex! People are on the app because they want people to look and like them. I’m sure no guy is gonna be like, oh no a pretty girl liked me, what a tragedy

 **Alex:** maybe. Anyway im going to shower

After her shower, Alex braved the app again. The fact that she’d gotten a fair number of likes calmed her slightly. The fact that she now knew barista girl was waking up to a notification about her made her stomach churn.

Breakfast. Breakfast, then app.

The food didn’t help much, but Alex did manage to find her actual matches. Apparently a few of the people she’d liked didn’t find her profile totally off-putting. Lily had messaged her, “hey,” at 3 in the morning. And then Maggie, whose profile photo featured her in some Halloween cop costume with a big German Shepherd had messaged her a simple, “Hey there!” at 6am.

Figuring she could fulfill her Kara-mandated interaction for the day, Alex sent back, “Hey, how are you?” to both of them and shut out of the app.

Only her phone buzzed right back at her.

She probably should have guessed that Maggie would be the one to respond right away. Lily probably wasn’t up yet.

 **Maggie:** eh, been better. What about you?

Okay, Alex could do this. Maybe she’d even get a friend out of it. Not like she was looking for friends. Not like she was looking for anything more, either. Even if there was that photo of Maggie doing yoga that had made Alex’s cheeks flush.

 **Alex:** you know…quarantine life. Should work on my research. Will probably binge watch some shitty tv.

 **Maggie:** lucky

 **Maggie:** apparently I’m “essential”

 **Alex:** oh really? What do you do?”

 **Maggie:** uhh I’m a cop. Sorry, thought the profile picture would give it away.

Alex clicked back over to her profile, noticing the rather official-looking vest on the dog, and the coverage that most Halloween costumes didn’t have.

 **Alex:** ohhh

 **Alex:** right right

 **Maggie:** sorry, I know it’s not a perfect system. Or even a good one a lot of the time. I like to think maybe I can do some good from within it, but if you don’t wanna talk anymore, I totally get it.

 **Alex:** no! I was just embarrassed.

 **Maggie:** ?

 **Alex:** I thought the hat was a Halloween costume.

 **Maggie:** ohh no haha

 **Maggie:** what about you? Says you’re a grad student, but what do you study?

 **Alex:** in the sciences, I do astrobiology and bioengineering

 **Maggie:** damn, that’s impressive

 **Alex:** not really, I mean, my mom has way more credentials than I do

Alex groaned. That was stupid. This was a dating app, not therapy.

 **Maggie:** I’m sure when you’re her age people will be saying stuff like that about you

 **Alex:** thanks

 **Maggie:** so what shitty tv shows are you gonna be watching?

And just like that, things were almost easy. Maggie teased Alex about some of the things she admitted to watching. Alex teased Maggie back about her closeted love of procedurals and trying to figure out who had done it before the cops on the show did (and, Maggie added, with evidence that was actually permissible in court). Maggie talked about how weird work had been with everyone under quarantine. Alex talked about her research and even found herself admitting that she’d started to fall behind in a major way, but maybe this forced break would be the reset she needed. It was…easy. In a way Alex hadn’t expected. Certainly not on a dating app. Not that she was looking to date Maggie. It was just like talking to a new friend. Who happened to hit a little heart icon next to her name on a dating app.

Eventually, Maggie had to go patrol, and Alex found herself missing the regular buzz of her phone and the messages that made her feel a little less alone during the enforced isolation. Not that she’d admit that Kara had been right.

\---

Later that night, Alex’s phone buzzed from somewhere beneath her. She let herself blink slowly back into consciousness, wiping at the corner of her mouth as she pulled her face off the couch cushion. _Great British Bake Off_ was still playing, and she was pretty sure it was the same episode she’d put on, so at least she hadn’t been asleep for long.

Her phone buzzed again.

More likes. Apparently nighttime was when everyone got on that damn app.

She scrolled through their profiles, liking one or two of them back.

Almost immediately, a quick hello message popped up from a Lucy, 31.

After a moment’s hesitation, Alex messaged back.

 **Alex:** hey

 **Lucy:** oh thank god someone’s around, I’m stuck in quarantine with my father for two weeks after we were possibly exposed to covid, and it’s only day 2, but I’m already ready to throw myself out the window

 **Alex:** hah that sucks I’m sorry

 **Lucy:** you don’t even know the half of it.

 **Lucy:** but anyway how are you?

 **Alex:** quarantined…but it’s just me and Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood over here.

 **Lucy:** nice

 **Alex:** if a bit boring

 **Lucy:** least they’re not telling you what a good thing it is that you just went through a breakup bc “you’re so much better off, Lucy. Now you can find someone I approve of.” Fuckin gag me.

 **Alex:** oof. I’m sure it’s her loss, but still, breakups suck

 **Lucy:** His, actually

 **Alex:** oh

 **Lucy:** yeah I’m bi

 **Lucy:** if you’re gonna be bitchy about it, you can fuck right off now

 **Alex:** what? Why would I do that?

 **Lucy:** sorry, I’ve just…the last person I talked to turned out to be a total asshole

 **Lucy:** apparently they only want to talk to gold star lesbians

 **Alex:** that’s super fucked up, sorry

 **Alex:** what’s a gold star?

Alex immediately regretted asking. That was what google was for. Stupid wine-thick drowsiness making it hard to remember these things.

 **Lucy:** Lesbian who’s only ever been with women. It’s stupid

 **Alex:** sounds like it.

 **Lucy:** surprised you’ve never heard it before

Figuring she’d already humiliated herself enough, Alex decided to be upfront.

 **Alex:** kinda…new here.

 **Lucy:** ohhh

 **Lucy:** welcome!

 **Lucy:** we have pins and a monopoly on denim jackets

 **Alex:** haha thanks

 **Alex:** I mean idk if I should be here yet. Idk

 **Lucy:** it’s chill. Not like you can go meet anyone, probs a good time to explore this shit for yourself

 **Alex:** pretty much what my sister said

 **Lucy:** she sounds smart

 **Alex:** don’t tell her – she still likes to remind me that she did better than me in AP Calc

 **Lucy:** hehe there was too big of an age gap bt my sister and me for that kind of thing to ever be a real issue

 **Lucy:** not that the teachers didn’t still like to call me “Lois’s baby sister”

 **Lucy:** but anyway, yeah, you’re here now, so…how’s it going?

 **Alex:** idk I mean, I pretty much just talked to you and one other person, and you’re both cool I guess

 **Lucy:** obviously I am, so who’s this other woman? (or maybe not a woman? No judgment from me)

 **Alex:** Maggie

 **Alex:** she’s sort of awesome, easy to talk to, makes me laugh

 **Lucy:** mhmmm

 **Alex:** what?

 **Lucy:** you sound a little smitten for someone who isn’t sure she’s meant to be here, that’s all

 **Alex:** but maybe I just want to be friends with her, ya know

 **Lucy:** right right

 **Lucy:** maybe

 **Lucy:** but also maybe friends who make out with each other?

An image shimmered in Alex’s mind. Maggie leaning forward with that soft smile and the little dimple that she’d glimpsed in the photo with the dog. Alex thought she’d be gentle. None of the scratchy stubble or rough, dry hands grasping too hard that she remembered from hazy nights in bars and clubs.

 **Lucy:** where’d ya go, Alex? ;)

 **Alex:** shuttup

 **Lucy:** it’s fine, I’m already resigned to being your gay guru and nothing else

 **Alex:** who says I need one?

 **Lucy:** I sure did

 **Alex:** oh

 **Alex:** right, well, yeah

 **Lucy:** so besides your sister, anyone know?

 **Alex:** oh she doesn’t know. She set up the app so that I’d talk to people. I was the one who went in and changed the settings

 **Lucy:** good for you, seriously

 **Alex:** literally just a check box

 **Lucy:** but you checked it. It would have been really easy to ignore it

 **Alex:** yeah well Kara said she wanted me to talk to someone every day on it, and I didn’t want to talk to any of the men, so

 **Lucy:** hahahaha

 **Alex:** what?

 **Lucy:** nothing, I just think I’m gonne be the only one of the two of us hangin out in the B of the acronym

 **Lucy:** it’s cool

 **Lucy:** anyway, how long have you been talking to this Maggie?

 **Alex:** a day?

 **Lucy:** oh my god and you’re already this smitten

 **Lucy:** this is amazing

 **Lucy:** truly amazing

 **Lucy:** you were made for the lesbian lifestyle

 **Alex:** …I feel like I’m being insulted

 **Lucy:** not really

 **Alex:** a little?

 **Lucy:** lemme guess: you guys talked nonstop for hours?

 **Alex:** um yes

 **Lucy:** and you’ve probably talked about when you’re gonna talk next?

 **Alex:** well, Maggie did tell me when she’d be off work, but it’s not like we’re scheduling a date or whatever

 **Alex:** or like it’d even BE a date

 **Lucy:** sure, Jan.

 **Alex:** whatever.

 **Lucy:** It’s cute

 **Lucy:** young gay love

 **Alex:** no one said anything about love!

 **Alex:** I just think she’s cool and easy to talk to and really pretty

 **Lucy:** and probably also definitely maybe the love of your life?

 **Alex:** fuck off

 **Lucy:** ah but then I might have to talk to my father for entertainment

 **Lucy:** the life of an extrovert in quarantine is truly terrible

 **Alex:** wouldn’t know.

 **Lucy:** You’re talking to Maggie just fine. And me.

 **Alex:** yes well

 **Lucy:** we’re both pretty ladies so we’re the exceptions, I get it.

 **Alex:** you’re infuriating

 **Lucy:** I notice you didn’t say I wasn’t pretty

 **Alex:** I’m leaving

 **Lucy:** you better hope I’m still here when you need my advice next

 **Alex:** you’re an extrovert, im not worried

 **Lucy:** ughhhh I hate that you’re right

\---

Over the next few days, Alex continued talking to Maggie whenever Maggie wasn’t at work (and sometimes when she was stuck on phone duty and tied to her desk), interspersed with teasing conversations with Lucy that often left Alex blushing a deep shade of red.

Even though there was a part of Alex that wasn’t sure about labeling anything, she couldn’t deny that the easiness of her conversations with Maggie was tinged with something that felt a whole lot like those schoolgirl crushes she’d always heard about and feigned in middle school. Because suddenly she was practically diving for her phone when it pinged. And her heart seemed to skip a beat when she saw that it was Maggie. And the messages that had become increasingly flirty over time made Alex’s stomach flutter.

Which was why, with a burst of courage born of a long pep talk from Lucy, Alex called Kara, barely managing the brief pleasantries of “hey” and “good, how are you?” before she was blurting out the truth. “Okay, so I know I’ve been telling you about how well I’m getting along with the cute cop Mark, but actually Mark is Maggie, and she is still a cute cop, and we are talking every day, but yeah…different name.”

There was a long silence, and Alex felt her heart plummet as a wave of nausea crashed over her. _Fuck_. She should have expected this as a possibility. The silences in Maggie’s messages about family should have spoken loudly enough. But it was _Kara_. Sweet, loving Kara who had never—

A knock at the door pulled Alex from her panic.

She barely had time to undo the chain lock before Kara was barreling in and sweeping Alex into a tight hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” Kara whispered, hugging Alex evem closer to her.

“What?”

“Sorry! I just, it felt like maybe not a conversation to have over the phone? So I flew here!”

“Mom’s gonna kill me.”

“Nah, she’s literally at the lab, like, 24/7.” Kara grinned as she pulled a small canvas bag down from her shoulder. “I didn’t have time to stop for a celebratory cake or anything”—and oh god, Alex could just picture Kara arriving with some full sheet cake with “Congrats on coming out!” iced on top in rainbow frosting—“but I grabbed some of those oatmeal cream pies from the pantry, since I know you like them.”

Alex grinned, throwing her arms back around Kara’s shoulders as she sagged with relief, those earlier moments of fear and doubt slowly ebbing out of her body. “Thank you,” she managed, her voice thick with too many emotions.

Seeming to hear them but also to understand that Alex wouldn’t want to parse through them all, Kara just nodded. “I should head back soon, but what do you say? Eat a pastry? Tell me about this girl?”

Nodding, Alex led Kara over to the couch and collapsed down into the corner where she’d spent much too much time these past few days. She passed her phone over with the picture of Maggie in her cute little cop hat with the dog that Alex had later learned was named “Jones” after well-loved old captain.

“She’s cute!” Kara squealed, flicking through Maggie’s other photos. “And she’s being nice to you?”

“Yes,” Alex sighed, suppressing the urge to roll her eyes at the over-protectiveness she definitely didn’t need, even though a little part of her kind of appreciated it. “She even listens and asks smart questions about my research.”

“Wow, sounds like a keeper!”

And it was meant to be a lighthearted comment, but Alex found herself suddenly gushing about all the other ways Maggie was kind and smart and funny and so damn pretty that sometimes it made Alex’s heart feel like it was going to burst right out of her chest.

By the time Alex had finished talking, Kara’s beaming smile had softened into something else.

“What?” Alex asked, swallowing heavily and folding her arms over her chest.

“It’s just…back in high school, when I would ask you about your crushes or who you were gonna go with to dances, you were always so…stoic. Like you couldn’t be bothered to care.”

“I—”

Kara waved her hand. “No, no, it’s not a bad thing! You always just seemed really cool and detached and above it all. And this”—Kara gestured up and down at Alex—“it’s really amazing to see you be a total dork about your feelings.”

“I’m not a dork.”

“Definitely not.” Kara could barely stifle the grin. “So when are you gonna ask her out?”

“I—I mean—it’s quarantine?”

“Sure, yeah, but…you clearly like her. Oh Rao! What if we did, like, a Skype picnic? I could help you set it up on this end, and it’d be like you were both on the same date, but just apart! Or you could plan to watch the same movie at the same time and talk about it. Or…”

Alex blinked back at Kara. “Uh, maybe we start small? Like, hey, wanna exchange phone numbers and talk off the app?”

“Oh. I guess that’s fine.”

Nudging Kara’s shoulder with her own, Alex added, “But if you want to do a long distance picnic, I promise to answer the phone and sit on the floor with my wine and ice cream.”

It was enough to bring a smile back to Kara’s face as she nodded. “I’ll text you the details! And let me know what Maggie says about your date!”

\---

As it turned out, the move to texting didn’t make a huge difference, except Alex’s phone’s battery lasted longer. And Maggie sent more pictures. The dog that lived in the apartment below her desperately pining after the dog that lived across the street because they didn’t understand what social isolation meant. The sad microwaved pizza some of the officers were eating down at the station during the overnight shift. A gorgeous shot of sunrise that had been captioned, “Thinking of you this morning.” (Alex may or may not have let out an ungodly squeal that she would forever deny making.) And then there were the handful of photos with Maggie in them—sometimes just a sliver of her when the focus was meant to be elsewhere, but Alex cherished them just the same.

In turn, Alex tried to send things from her life. Only, she was pretty cooped up inside the apartment, and her meals were never anything worth photographing, so mostly she sent selfies and screenshots of whatever she was watching on Netflix at the moment.

Late one evening, Alex sent a photo of herself practically half asleep in her research—hair mussed from having run her fingers through it one too many times, glasses on after her eyes had gotten far too dry for contacts, and clad in a cozy navy sweater Kara had gotten her for Hanukkah a few years back.

Alex thought maybe she’d get a message of encouragement back, something to push her through the last 20 pages she wanted to read before bed.

She did not expect a text of garbled, random letters, followed by a, “Fuck you’re hot,” followed by a, “Sorry! Was that too much? Kinda running on fumes – we’re down a few officers and pulling doubles.”

And Alex wasn’t fishing for compliments, but she couldn’t quite help responding: “Really? With the glasses?”

“Trust me,” was all she got in response.

As distracted as she was, Alex didn’t read even one more page before bed, but she still fell asleep with a smile on her face, so she counted it as a victory of sorts.

\---

Despite Kara’s constant urging, it ended up being Maggie who finally asked Alex if she might want to try a phone call or video chat. And Alex _knew_ she could be awkward as hell on the phone, knew she always got distracted by the little box with her own video and wondering if she was making weird faces, but somehow Maggie managed to captivate her attention so thoroughly that she barely had time to notice, let alone worry.

Soon enough, there were daily phone calls while Maggie walked to and from work. There were video chats over dinner where they could almost pretend they were eating together. There were little admissions that spoke of a growing relationship: Alex’s casual mention of how easy it was to date Maggie that led into the conversation about whether they wanted to start calling this dating; Maggie’s honest, “God, I really, really want to kiss you”; the increasingly blatant attraction that neither felt compelled to hide.

One morning Alex woke up to a photo of Maggie clad in just a sports bra and tiny spandex shorts, her skin dewy with sweat and her cheeks flushed with exertion. Alex felt her brain short circuit and, before it could catch up with her hands, she found herself sending back: “fuck im so gay.”

That evening, Alex forced herself to do a bit of indoor interval training and sent back of post-workout photo of her own. And if she flexed a little bit, well, no one had to know. Besides, it was all worth it for Maggie’s “hot damn.” The phone call that followed was even better, as Maggie, her voice thick with some emotion Alex hadn’t heard before, bemoaned the quarantine and, in a flash of inspiration, asked Alex if she might want to go running together—so long as they stayed on opposite sides of the street, they should be safe.

Which was how, the next morning, Alex found herself putting more care and attention into her workout clothing than she ever had. After trying on too many things, Alex finally caved and sent Lucy photos of three options.

 **Lucy:** WARN A WOMAN FIRST, ALEX!

 **Lucy:** option 2 makes your butt look better, but 1 is the best overall choice

 **Lucy:** it has been just about 2 weeks of quarantine for you now, hasn’t it? You guys finally meeting up and making good on all the flirty texts??

 **Alex:** what?

 **Lucy:** c’mon, I don’t really need to spell it out, do I? Two-week incubation period… If neither of you are sick, you can see each other. If you can see each other you can finally do something about all that sexual tension bc don’t think I don’t know what your keysmash messages at midnight mean.

 **Alex:** Maggie’s deemed essential. She hasn’t been on quarantine, so I think she’s not supposed to see people

 **Lucy:** oh shit, that sucks

 **Lucy:** I hope she’s alright

 **Alex:** thanks

 **Lucy:** is she a doctor or nurse or something?

 **Alex:** oh no, law enforcement actually

 **Lucy:** you have such a type

 **Alex:** ?

 **Lucy:** you’re aware I’m military, yeah?

 **Alex:** oh. Yeah idk I guess maybe?

 **Lucy:** so anyway why all the outfit stress if you can’t even see her?

 **Alex:** I’m kind of seeing her? From a distance? We’re going running but on opposite sides of the street

 **Lucy:** that’s sickeningly cute

 **Lucy:** please let me know how many times you run into street signs from ogling each other

 **Alex:** shuttup

 **Lucy:** it’s true. Have fun! Know that I’m vicariously enjoying this human contact through you as I suffer out my last 48 hours of quarantine before going back to work

\---

Alex did not run into any street signs. If she tripped over two different curbs, no one had to know. At least not Lucy. But dear god, flattering as they were, the photos did _not_ do Maggie justice. And phone calls were great, but getting to hear the rough cadences of Maggie’s voice when she was just slightly out of breath was so much better in person.

Stretching, though, that was where Alex got herself in trouble. Because a street, even the narrow neighborhood ones they’d been running on, gave more than six feet of distance. But stretching bought them close enough to look. Close enough for Alex to see the way sweat beaded on Maggie’s neck, rolling down her chest. Close enough for Alex to notice the way Maggie’s eyes darkened as they trailed over her body like a hot, needy caress. Close enough to start to wonder if it would be worth it to reach out…step just a _little_ closer…

But then Maggie was clearing her throat and stepping back. “I, uh, I should go to work. Or shower. Then work.”

And if Alex’s hand slipped down between her legs while she took a shower of her own, well, no one had to know.

\---

Still, remembering her promise to let Lucy know how things had gone, Alex managed a half-coherent, “oh my god she’s even hotter in person,” before collapsing down onto the sofa with her late breakfast.

 **Lucy:** gayyyyyy

 **Alex:** do you know how hard it is to finally be attracted to someone you’re kind of dating and have them be right there and actually be sober and comfortable around them and NOT be able to do anything about it?

 **Lucy:** I mean…there are plenty of ways to have fun at a distance…

 **Alex:** askjldkhgalkdjf

 **Alex:** are you saying…?

 **Lucy:** you do you, dude. I live for making you keysmash and stammer. You should only take me seriously like 50% of the time. 75% if we’re talking about coming out and serious things

 **Alex:** ah right

 **Lucy:** but seriously, you guys already send each other half-naked workout photos and have been on the equivalent of like 14 dates.

 **Alex:** but would that be weird??

 **Lucy:** it’s a hookup app. Like half the messages I get are unsolicited dick pics.

 **Alex:** but you don’t WANT those!

 **Lucy:** no but if I was head over heels for some girl that I’d been texting and calling and video chatting with for 2 full weeks, I’m not gonna be mad if she wants to send me something sexy

Alex changed the subject, but the idea didn’t quite leave her. Everything about this insistent pulse of longing was so _new_. It wasn’t like she’d never been turned on before or never gone out wanting sex, but it was always a vague, directionless kind of desire, not this desperate need for one person who actually meant something to her.

After their run together, their texts, which had already rippled with a low current of something like attraction, suddenly erupted in moments of blatant desire. No longer were they followed by apologies or excuses about late nights and too little sleep. They were facts—pure and simple. Alex wanted Maggie, and Maggie wanted Alex, and the idea of pretending like that wasn’t true in every sense of the word was no longer worth sustaining.

\---

With the courage born of a glass of whiskey—just one, though, just enough to dull the panic of “what if”—Alex pulled out her phone and sent Maggie a message.

 **Alex:** Can’t stop thinking about how good you looked yesterday

 **Maggie:** trust me, the feeling is mutual

 **Alex:** should we meet up again tomorrow?

 **Maggie:** we can

 **Maggie:** it won’t fix this, though

 **Maggie:** because I can’t do any of the things I want to do to you from six feet away

 **Alex:** fuck

 **Maggie:** this okay?

 **Alex:** more than

 **Maggie:** I really like you and can’t wait to be able to take you on a proper date one day, but right now all I can think about is touching you

Alex’s breath caught in her throat. How was it that a handful of words on a screen could leave her this desperate for Maggie’s touch?

 **Maggie:** you okay?

 **Alex:** shit sorry yeah

Her phone rang, and Alex barely recognized her voice, breathless as it was, when she answered.

“God, you sound good,” Maggie said, and a shudder ran through Alex’s body.

“I want you.” It wasn’t much, but Alex could feel the truth of the words deep down in her body. “I want to feel… just…everything.”

“Alex.” Maggie’s voice broke on the words, trailing off into a kind of keening whimper. “Can I touch myself? Is that okay with you?”

The whole world seemed to fade away, and all Alex could hear was the thump of blood pounding in her ears, the echo of Maggie’s words all around her. “Tell me.”

The breathy moan that reached Alex through the line sent her fingers questing down, shucking off her pants and top before she could give it a second thought.

“Thinking about you—kissing down your neck, across your chest. Your hands in my hair, holding me where you need me.”

“Maggie,” Alex sighed, letting her free hand drift down, rolling one of her nipples between her fingers.

“What do you like, Alex? What would you want me to do? I’d do anything for you.”

The roaring sound was back in Alex’s ears, and an insistent throbbing was drawing her hand down between her legs. “Anything. Everything. Whatever you’ll give me.”

A whimper broke the silence that followed. Maggie’s voice was thick with need when she managed to speak again. “Wanna have you in my mouth, make you feel so good.” Alex’s breath hitched at the thought. “I bet you’d taste so good.”

“I want that too,” Alex blurted out. “I—I want to fuck you. And taste you.” And she didn’t really know what any of this would be like—that one time with another woman had been a mess of drunken, fumbling hands and pressure hard enough to push one another over the edge, nothing with finesse or forethought or planning—but she knew she _wanted_ it, knew that the thought of Maggie’s smooth, muscular thighs hooked over her shoulders as she lost herself in the taste and feel and sounds of Maggie all around her made Alex’s breath catch and her stomach clench.

“Are you touching yourself?”

Alex finally dragged her underwear down her thighs, letting her fingers slip through her folds. And _fuck_ , she was soaked. She was barely even thinking when she admitted, “I don’t think I’ve ever been this wet.”

“God you’re perfect. You’re gonna kill me before we ever get to do this in person,” Maggie groaned.

Alex laughed, but it was cut short by a rumbling sound, followed by a soft sigh. “Oh god. Are you…?”

“Couldn’t wait,” Maggie gasped.

And then Alex couldn’t either, needed something _now_. She barely managed to switch the phone over to speaker before she’d pushed one finger inside, another slipping in fast circles over her clit. “ _Fuck_.”

“Tell me,” Maggie ordered, repeated Alex’s words from earlier.

“Needed—inside.” Alex’s words gave way to a low moan as she crooked her finger just right, then slipped in a second. “So good,” she managed.

Alex heard the catch in Maggie’s breathing. A moment of silence thicker than air. Then a muffled groan that made Alex’s whole body burn with desire.

Alex’s finger sped up before she could even think about it, pressing down harder, fucking herself faster, and then her back was arching off the bed, Maggie’s name slipping out without conscious thought.

She collapsed back onto the mattress, still breathing heavily as aftershocks shuddered through her.

“Wow,” Maggie breathed.

“We’re, uh, we’re gonna do that again, right?”

“Oh 100%.” 

**Author's Note:**

> I'm on Tumblr and Twitter @sapphicscholar


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